A standard connector has at least one electrically conductive connector tube that is carried by a dielectric support and that has opposite ends each formed with a transversely and diametrally throughgoing slot. The width of the slot is slightly smaller than the diameter of the conductor to which the connection is to be made and the tube is thin enough or the slot edges are sharpened such that when an insulated wire is pushed down into the slot parallel to it and the axis of the tube its insulation is cut and the metal tube makes a good electrical connection with the conductive wire core. The support is normally formed with passages aligned with the slots and adapted to hold the insulated wires.
In my U.S. Pat. No. 4,614,396 such a system is described where the connector tube has a first slotted end whose outside dimension measured perpendicular to the tube axis is such that it can penetrate into the opposite slotted end of another such connector element identical to the first one. A guide is used between at least an internal part of the dielectric support and each connector tube on it so as to allow the tubes to move axially but not angularly on the support. An actuating system is provided for each connector tube for moving it individually to push it axially down over the wire it is to connect. It is possible to stack up such tubes for use in a system with several different wires.
Normally this system is provided with a screw which acts on one connector tube or a stack of same. As a result when a plurality of wires are to be interconnected with such a system the necessary maneuvers are fairly tricky. The job is even more onerous when a line must be disconnected or switched because invariably this involves two separate wires which must be individually worked on.
In addition the known devices do not include a convenient ground connection. In many installations a ground lug between two live lines is necessary or at least very handy, for instance for connection of an overvoltage device or lightning arrester. A ground connection is only provided with some difficulty on the known systems.